Currently, there are number of different yellow pages and white pages available on the Internet. These yellow and white pages generally are free to the users. The providers of the yellow pages receive revenue through two primary methods: preferred placement of listings and banner advertising.
Preferred placement of listings means that someone who is in the yellow pages, a listee, can purchase a preferred placement, for a fee. The preferred placement places the listee's information at the top of the listing of names. Thus, for example, if Zibo's Shoes purchases a preferred placement, when a user searches for shoe stores, Zibo's listing will be at the top of the returned list of stores. If, however, Zibo's does not purchase a preferred placement, then, since most yellow pages are organized alphabetically, Zibo's will be at the bottom of the returned list. This is disadvantageous to Zibo's. Furthermore, preferred placement may be expensive, especially in areas that have large suppliers as well as smaller suppliers. It is unlikely that a small shop having only a few employees can compete with a retail giant for placement. Also, a user viewing these pages would see the listings in an unexpected order based on placement would not be able to quickly locate Zibo's on the page. Therefore, this traditional method of gaining revenue is disadvantageous to the listees and users.
An alternative method of gaining revenue is by using banner advertising. Banner advertising places a banner ad, traditionally about six inches long and one inch wide, across either the top or the bottom of the page being shown. Clicking on the banner ad follows the link to the advertiser's site. However, payment for banner ads is based mostly upon an action on the user's part. While placement of a banner ad may result in payment in some instances, most payment is in response to a “click through”, i.e., a user following the link provided by the banner ad and visiting the advertiser's web page. Click-through rates are low, and banner ads have not been found to be a sufficient source of revenue. Therefore, the use of banner ads is disadvantageous to the provider of the yellow pages.